What effects your decision to help others?

Items that take more than an hour to make: I help if I have 8 or more. Items that are quick to make: I usually help if I have enough. Crops: I always help if I can.

If I'm wavering, it really helps if there's a premium item or BEM that I've been able to purchase - then I kind of feel obligated, lol :D

The only exceptions (as I imagine they are for a lot of people) are sugar, dairy and fish/lobsters. If I'm left with at least 25 after helping (15 or so with cheese/syrup), I'll help, especially if it's a lower level player or the clock is running out.

I don't pay much attention to what they're selling in their RSS, but like I said it helps me decide in their favor if there's something nice there. (For the same reason, I like to sell any excess cakes/juices and EM when I'm asking for boat help - not tree help though.)

I generally do not help with sugar or dairy crates. I never have enough; those crates ask for so many. For everything else, I help if I can. Even jams. At this point, boat score points is what I want. I don't need more coins. But I do want Boat Score Hunter III. And enough XP to get lemon trees. :-)

As for why so many people didn't help the OP...maybe she was too generous. People got so excited over the items in the shop they forgot about the ! flag. Or maybe they simply didn't have the ability to help. (Me, I would love finding someone who needed shepherd's pies. I always have tons of them. They sell well and they don't need sugar, fish, or dairy, so they're one of my go-to items to keep production lines going and get stuff out of my barn.)

One thing you might consider: people won't see your ad if they haven't reached the level where the product is available to them. You can use this to your advantage. If you are trying to fill crates that are likely to be easier for a lower level player to fill, like cream or brown sugar, put your ad on something lower level players can see, like eggs. If it's something a higher level player is more likely to have extras of, put it on something they'll see but lower level players won't, like a coffee drink or a smoothie.

You need to be level 39 or higher to have shepherd's pies. Someone who just reached level 39 is unlikely to have many shepherd's pies yet, so put your ad on something that becomes available a few levels higher, like chocolate popcorn.

Don't put your ad on something that will be bought quickly. People who want to help don't care what you're offering, they're just looking for flags. If you do want to "repay" them, put other goodies in your stand for them, but put your ad on something relatively boring so it stays up longer.

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Originally Posted by Janilee

One thing you might consider: people won't see your ad if they haven't reached the level where the product is available to them. You can use this to your advantage. If you are trying to fill crates that are likely to be easier for a lower level player to fill, like cream or brown sugar, put your ad on something lower level players can see, like eggs. If it's something a higher level player is more likely to have extras of, put it on something they'll see but lower level players won't, like a coffee drink or a smoothie.

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Genious! Great advice :)

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Originally Posted by Tiggerr129

I am going to violate my personal rule and make some assumptions here. Your desire to shut out so many people (based on this and the other posts in this thread) makes me sad. I'm left wondering what hurt you so bad that you feel the need to shy away and fear others. It feels like it is so much more than just being "raided" here on this game. I am imagining that the way you felt after having this assumed experience must have struck a hidden hurt from way before. I can understand this having lead a long and strange life myself. I hope your outlook to life improves and that you sometime feel brave enough to let others in. The good people I have met in this game and on this forum far outnumber the not so nice ones.

Of course if I am way off, just ignore me, but feel free to absorb the virtual hug I am sending your way anyway.

Tigg

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i think the strongest influence on the way i think is due to my recently passed step mother. her attitude was simple: if she knew you and you were in her circle she would go to bat for you anytime. however if you were an outsider/stranger she wouldnt have anything to do with you. what i learned through this that loyalty does make for a stronger group. i feel to put yourself out in the open befriending everyone would lead to disaster sooner or later.

perhaps one day i may be more trusting of people but at the moment people are not giving me much to go on. that is why being in a neighborhood is perfect for me. i can weed out the troublemakers and those who take but not give back. i can shut my ads off and only sell to my own. or if i feel like it i can sell to others, the main thing i can control if i sell to my people or others. hope that explains some things.

I help regardless- as long as i have the item- and of course i don't need it for my own boats. I'm guilty of putting up 10 eggs for max price and nothing else. Why? So i can keep an ad in the news paper constantly and i don't need to sit on the game and keep re-making ads. It's simple, fast and easy.

I do like to look at the helpers to see if they need help in return. I tend to be pretty nice about helping others when they help me. ;)

I really enjoy helping others. Now that I've gotten settled in an awesome neighborhood, I help my neighbors first. But I keep an eagle eye out for folks who need assistance with trees and/or crates. No rules about who/how I help, or what assistance I provide. If someone needs help that I can give, I give it.

Hello - I help with boats so if you want to add me please feel free.

Yes it does sound harsh that no one helped with shepherd pies. If I go through an ad in the DD and there are good items I will buy them, but if I then look at the boat and I just don't have the stuff what can you do? Or if it's sugar or cream just say no - but shepherd pies!! That's unlucky to get no help out of 15 people.

Perhaps try advertising less interesting items or more common items. That way you might attract people more interested in the help sign rather than the premium goods.

xx

I enjoy helping not only with boat orders but also with watering trees. When someone does that for me I always send the thank you note. What irritates me is that it seems like not everyone does that.

What makes it worse is that I have now traded in my vouchers several times in the hope of getting some farm decorations. Not once though have I received anything worthwhile. Only TNT, vinegar, white sugar, carrot juice or something to that effect. These things I can produce on my farm myself. What kind of incentive is it to help someone else if you are not going to get a worthwhile reward for your efforts.

Maybe this is something that should be changed in the game. How do the other players fee about this?

Omg I do that too. If someone is advertising eggs for full price and wants like 10 creams or something I tend not to help and I'm not even sure why lol. But I'll usually help anyone that I can. I too find it irritating when I fill my stand about 10 times with nice goods and no one helps but if you wait eventually someone will.

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Originally Posted by crancyph

I think the main problem is that you're attracting the wrong group of people to your store.

There is

1. The group of people who rush to buy the premium good
2. The group of people who visited your farm to see what you needed help with, because they were alerted by the "!" sign.

There is certainly more people belonging to 1 than to 2, I'd like to think.

Thus, the premium goods get wiped out fast, and people in group 2 never got to see the "!" sign at all, even if there was someone prepared with lots of shepherd pies to help.

What you might want to do is to put the ad on something slow selling, like chocolate popcorn, so the ad continues to run to attract people who want to help, at the same time selling the premium goods that you wanted to sell.

Putting the ad on a premium good never allows it to last for more than 2 minutes, lol.

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Agreed. Whenever I advertise let's say chilli popcorn I would have a number of premium goods for sale not advertised. I find that the people who buy the premium goods buy them all leave the chilli popcorn and never help. It's not until alittle while later that my boxes would be filled by someone who probably never bought anything